(Originally written/e-published
on 22nd June 2005 by Tayo Solagbade - Founder SDAc)
Nigeria Is A Peculiar Place. SDAc(Self-Development
Academy Limited) Is Nigerian.
Nigeria needs Nigerians to solve her
problems. We can borrow ideas from other societies, but only
Nigerians who have a sound understanding of the complex nature
of social factors influencing the highly unpredictable, unusual
events that occur daily, can successfully adapt such ideas
to develop lasting, sustainable solutions that will make life
better for the average Nigerian.
Since I started out as an entrepreneur,
to pursue my dream of providing Self-Development education
for people passionately driven to be their best at what they
do, I have come to the sobering realisation that Nigeria,
my country, has many social peculiarities that severely limit
the ability of even her most gifted and competent citizens
to follow an honest path to achieve authentic and reproducible
success.
Let me explain by drawing a comparison
with developed societies. Americans for instance have many
seasoned experts and practitioners dedicated to the work of
developing the human resources and intellectual capital of
their country. They've been at it for years - decades in fact.
So have other developed nations. We in Africa have always
trailed - many of us very far - behind. Business Schools and
universities in Europe, America and Asia yearly churn out
socially relevant research findings that make life better
for their people - many times even for us in Africa!
In contrast, our business schools typically
focus on recycling learning events from their overseas counterparts
for us here - even when the socio-cultural context of application
is inappropriate! Research if at all done by these business
schools, is hardly ever relevant to the needs of our immediate
environment.
I have often
wondered...Why it is that the latest way of doing anything
always comes from overseas? Why can't we have gurus from this
part of the world telling the rest of the world what the future
holds, where we should all be looking for better results etc?(We
have a few gurus doing this but most, on closer examination
are often not home-grown, and have benefited from considerable
exposure to developed societies).
My answer:
Because too many of us Nigerians living in Nigeria,
are intellectually indolent - too lazy to engage in sustained
intellectual pursuit of continuous improvements in our various
fields. That's why we are content to sit back and accept whatever
comes from the developed societies - even when sometimes what
is being sent to us was created using material obtained directly
from, or around us! The truth is that Nigeria and many African
countries lack organisations that provide support systems
toward enabling better quality of life for people living in
them.
The SDAc Is NOT An NGO, But Will
Facilitate Work Done By Them And Others.
The SDAc is profit-focussed, and NOT a
charity. We have however developed a strategy to enable us
empower different classes of people by leveraging our creative
digital business products and services delivery arm - CB Solutions(Creative
Business Solutions). This strategy will enable us provide
interested individuals and groups(including the disadvantaged
and/or needy) with access to our coaching, educational and
empowerment programs at highly affordable rates. To put it
simply, we will offer our commercial clients attractively
bundled/priced products and services in exchange for their
active contribution to the successful pursuit of our people
development and empowerment goals.
The SDAc aims to explore, discover, document
and offer to interested persons, tested and proven solutions
to the various challenges faced by individual Nigerians(in
and out of paid employment), many of whom currently feel they
have no chance of ever making their dreams come true. I have
seen different international charity organisations and donor
agencies dole out large dollar grants towards various so-called
development programmes, but as most who live in Nigeria and
Africa know, very little sustainable results have been achieved
as a result of the work done by these bodies. Not because
they are not sincere or fail to work hard, but because the
approach adopted was inappropriate.
I am a Nigerian - and so are my wife
and kids. I do not want my children fleeing their country
to seek success and fulfillment elsewhere. I realise that
no foreign organisation or country can really truly help my
country empower its people as well as we could if we really
tried. We need Nigerians and Africans to develop their own
solutions to the peculiar challenges of their societies, and
STOP waiting - with cupped hands - on developed nations to
hand-out various aids which only increase our dependence on
them.
As a person who has all my life used
self-taught skills to get ahead in virtually every area of
endeavour I have ventured into, I have become convinced that
people who truly desire to take their destiny into their own
hands cannot afford to WAIT for their government or that of
other countries to give them the support they need. This is
because the reality from past experiences is that people in
government are not likely to do the right things for as many
people as need it - at least the way Africa is today. Every
person who desires to achieve her dreams must be prepared
to seize the initiative and look inwards to find the will
and courage to pursue that objective with perseverance. Every
person who wishes to live a future of their dreams must practise
Self-Development.
I believe that if more individuals in
our society begin to practice Self-Development the way SDAc
will show them, it will only be a matter of time before we
have a rapidly growing army of multi-skilled, adaptable, highly
motivated and successful people who know why it is important
to multiply themselves in others so as to reduce the latter's
dependence on them and so make the society flourish. That's
what happens in developed societies - and that's why many
Africans want to go there! I KNOW that we can create a similar
environment here if more people learn how to become authentic
successes who know how to make their success contagious -
and who give back tangibly to the society that makes them,
so that others may benefit.
"If It's LEGAL And
Can Work In Nigeria, Then It'll Work ANYWHERE!"
"..the
biggest challenge facing most African nations is to creatively
adapt ideas to their unique environment.." -
Mr. Patrick Boateng, Adviser for Africa, US Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) at the African Internet Summit and Exhibition(AFRINET)
2002, held in Abuja, Nigeria.
Lastly, because I believe Nigeria in
many ways represents to a great extent the variety of what
can be found across the African continent, and also because
I know that the peculiarities of the environment extant in
Nigeria present more daunting challenges than will be found
in most other places, I am convinced that any solution successfully
implemented here will be easily adapted to other places which
are burdened with less limiting social circumstances. Nigeria
for SDAc is therefore like a test-center. From here, solutions
that can help other societies(developing or developed) will
be conceived based on (socially relevant and practical) research/experience,
then tested, and if proven useful disseminated to areas they
can provide sustainable "use-value". That's why
we say: "If it's LEGAL, and can work in Nigeria, then
it'll work ANYWHERE!"
Related Articles:
1.
I Am A Self-Development Educator
And NOT A Motivational Speaker
2. Should
You Quit Your Job or Start Your Business Part-time?
3. When I Quit My Job, They Called Me Mad - And I Felt So,
So Sorry for Them!
4. Avoid Taking Lessons
On Entrepreneuring From The Wrong Person(s)
5. Practical Guiding
Philosophies For Entrepreneurial Success
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